CHELSEA MCLAUGHLIN

Last updated05:00, July 12 2017

CHELSEA MCLAUGHLIN/STUFF

Power Living Wellington has seen an increase in 'corporate yoga and meditation'. From left: dedicated meditator Neil Meekin with Power Living's Justine Hamill and Jase Te Patu.

Business meetings are taking on a whole new meaning in Wellington, with a rise in 'corporate' meditation packing out classes in the CBD.

Neil Meekin, a long-time meditator,says taking the time to "quieten the mind" is beneficial to his workas an innovation manager.

"If you can imagine your day, there's so much stimulation. I know for me there's just so much going on," he says.

CHELSEA MCLAUGHLIN/STUFF

Meekin, left, says meditation helps him with relaxation and brain clarity and increases his work productivity.

"There's a metaphor: It's like getting a big bowl of water and putting loads of dirt into it, so it's all really cloudy and you can't see through. But when you come into meditation for half an hour in the day time, it allows the dirt to settle so you're getting real clarity."

READ MORE: *'Mindfulness' takes over the corporate world *How good is your yoga teacher, really? *Converting blokes to yoga

The clarity helps him be more creative and switched on in the office.

"Even though you're becoming really relaxed, it doesn't sacrifice productivity ... it's actually the opposite: you're relaxed, but you're actually so much more productive."

Yoga studio Power Living Wellington began half-hour lunchtime meditation classes three months ago.

Co-owner Justine Hamill says class numbers have doubled in the last couple of weeks.

"The beauty about it is you can come in andjustsit in your work clothes and have that half an hour to just tune in, without all the social media, without all the demands, without all the 'blah blah blah'."

Co-owner JaseTe Patu says meditation is something simple that people can do for themselves.

"We're just finding that just that idea of stopping in the middle of your day, especially if both ends of your day are hectic it's like hitting a reset button ...

"It's something for you. You're the thing that's in common with all the things you have to do, so if you're not taking care of yourself then all the things you've got to do are not going to be done with efficiency."

Te Patu says people generally take shallow breathsusing their chest, instead of deep breaths with their diaphragm.

Slow, deep breaths slow down a person's autonomic nervous system which leaves them feeling more relaxed.

He says during meditationthe studio is made up almost entirely of CBD workers many coming in groups with colleagues.

"They all come together, it's like theirlittle midday meeting together."

-Stuff

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Take your next business meeting to a meditation studio - Stuff.co.nz

They had to get DEA permission to even plant the seeds. Photo: underworld111/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Theres a farm in upstate New York that grows cannabis with Governor Cuomos blessing, but plot twist: The leaves wont get you high. Thats because theyre hemp, which is like diet Cannabis sativa, and the 100 acres worth that JD Farms grows is used specifically for organic food products a suddenly trendy industry that Cuomo himself predicts could bring billions to the state. JD Farms already sells its salad mixes, hemp pastas, and cold-pressed hempseed oil to an impressive clientele that includes Estela chef Ignacio Mattos, Whole Foods, and small-batch Brooklyn pasta-maker Sfoglini.

Many people treat hemp as quasi-legal, but its a darling of the nutrition industry, which views it as a superfood equal to flax and chia seeds. Only soybeans have more protein, and hemp can supposedly boost the immune system, lower blood pressure, and suppress appetite. It also contains 20 amino acids, and a lot of omega-3s and -6s. Unlike marijuana, it has only trace amounts of THC by law, less than 0.3 percent and is better known for the incredibly strong fibers used in ropes, 90s jewelry, and Rainbow-brand sandals. But hemp-food companies are mostly after the seeds, which can be pressed into oil, processed into flour, or even shelled and sprinkled raw over yogurt. JD Farms got its break because one of its co-founders, DanDolgin, is a pro at lobbying lawmakers, after years navigating D.C.s federal bureaucracy (he worked in counterterrorism, of all things). Cuomo signed a bill saying its cool to grow hemp, and last March, JD Farms became New Yorks first farm to grow it in over 80 years. (It had to install an armed guard to plant the seeds.)

Hemps fans arent struggling to find culinary uses. Mattos says JD Farms leaves are grassy and sweet, and hes using them to garnish dishes like the Ibrico pork above. He also adds the oil to tomatoes and mozzarella, and is putting the seeds in desserts.At Sunday in Brooklyn, theyre in the spiceblend for chef Jaime Youngs fried chicken. Finally, a baby-greens salad mix is debuting at Whole Foods stores in the Northeast at the end of this month. Its a combo of JD Farms hemp leaves and kale from Long Island producer Satur Farms. Bloomberg reports its vaguely reminiscent of pot and has a lemony, almost minty flavor.

This guy packs only the necessary stuff when flying.

JD Farms has gotten cannabis into Whole Foods and restaurants like Estela.

The cookbook business has a reputation for being strong and lucrative a smart career move for any chef. The reality burns.

An online petition has already been signed by 5,400 people, including prominent Palm Beach residents.

With top chefs opening casual, all-day canteens, the morning meal is getting more creative and better all the time.

Discounts on food processors, pot-and-pan sets, decanters, and more.

The differences are minor andtheyll both make your food taste great.

Fairfax, opening in its place, is an all-day caf.

The company has run entire ads against the cheese dip, which is often full of preservatives.

Eli Miller did door-to-door deliveries for almost 60 years.

Theyll dine out at Alain Ducasses Eiffel Tower restaurant this week.

A new study found it can convince the body to store fat instead of burn it.

Stay for the boozy slushies and chicken-parm sandwiches.

The Underground Gourmets favorite places to have opened in the past year, serving everything from Texas breakfast tacos to new-wave Filipino takeout.

The United States had a good run, folks.

Its our weekly ranking of the citys most important restaurants.

Maybe its time to stop trashing Merlot.

Organizations are using the technology to depict conditions livestock endure.

He was reminded emphatically that Miller Lite is a bad beer.

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This Small New York Farm Is Dominating the Hemp-Food Trend - Grub Street

The makers of the viral 2015 Organic Effect video, which claimed that switching to an all organic diet can eliminate pesticidesfrom the body, are no longer allowed to promote the video or its claims, ruled the SwedishPatent and Market Court on July 3rdfollowing three days of hearings in mid-May. The Coop chain of Swedish grocery stores must not use the video or makeunsubstantiated claims about organic and conventional food or pay a fine of one million Swedish Krona (about $120,000 USD). The Swedish Crop Protection Association (Svenskt Vxtskydd), a trade association of nine Swedish crop protection companies, filed the lawsuit [in 2016], citing misleading and inaccurate advertisement.

The Organic Effect video totally [omits] the crucial fact that organic farming does use pesticides, albeit different than the ones used in conventional agriculture. Even though the pesticides used in organic farming tend to be naturally derived, whether a substance is synthetic or natural in origin, in and of itself, has no bearing on its toxicity or environmental impact.

Further,as Switzerland-based biologistIida Ruishalme pointed outat herThoughtscapismblog, the video left out information that conflicted with the videos shaky pro-organic assertions.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Organic Marketers Take Note: Makers Of Misleading Viral Organic Effect Video Lose Lawsuit

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Swedish court: Coop grocery chain 'misled' consumers by claiming organic food safer, healthier - Genetic Literacy Project

Much like asparagus water and water sommeliers, organic water is giving us pause. Though the concept isnt new, its surprising to see it making waves again.

Mintel, a global market research firm, claims that nearly 25 percent of Americansare thirstyfor organic water, which proves America doesnt understand the concept of organic.

As NPR first pointed out when organic water hit the scene a few years ago, something can only be considered an organic compound if it contains a significant amount of carbon. But a water molecule contains two atoms of hydrogen (H) and one atom of oxygen (O) and no carbon so its actually inorganic. And according to the USDAs labeling process for organic products, water and salt arenot includedas an ingredient that must be labeled organic.

But a trendy new company called Asarasiis taking advantage of a loophole. The brand is selling the first USDA organic-certified water, according to a report from Food Navigator.

Because Asarasis water is filtered through a living thing a maple tree it appears to pass the USDAs certification test.

Asarasis tagline encourages customers torethink your drink, in the hopes that youll try this tree-filtered water. The water, which comes from sugar maple trees, is leftover from the maple syrup making process, though it doesnt contain any sugar.

We have a beautiful base water that can be utilized in a lot of food and beverages, Asarasi CEO Adam North Lazar recently said in an interview with Food Navigator. Our goal is to replace what is used as water in the organic food industry.

Marketing water this way doesnt make it look special, Charles Fishman, author ofThe Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, told NPR when organic water started to make its mark around 2011.Lets go with cosmic water it all came from space in the first place how about selling it that way?

If youre still interesting in purchasing Asarasis organic water, check for locations selling the product.

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Organic Water Is A Sign That Americans Have No Idea What 'Organic' Is - HuffPost

The Whole Foods Market (WFM) and Amazon (AMZN) deal has the potential to fulfill the aspirations and promises of both John Mackey and Jeff Bezos. For John, its about making healthy, natural and organic foods accessible to more people around the world. For Jeff, its about a relentless determination to create the ultimate shopping experience for everything, and for everyone and, in the nearer term, to beat Wal-Mart (WMT).

Accomplishing those two goals is also essential to their success as a combined entity. Jeff Bezos must preserve the culture, which creates the Whole Foods shopping experience. He must figure out a way (assuming he hasnt already) to effectively streamline the two businesses, thereby leveraging his core business, and dominating the grocery market.

In the early 1980s, few people, John Mackey among them, would have anticipated the impact Whole Foods Market (formerly SaferWay) would have on the grocery industry, as well as on public health. They have been the driving force, bar none, of a subsector of the grocery industry, consisting of natural and organic foods. Natural and organic foods have significantly outpaced the growth of the overall grocery industry, according to the Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service.

And the Organic Trade Association claims organic food sales grew by over 8% last year, compared to less than 1% for the overall industry. There are few signs this trend wont continue, as our society becomes more health conscious, and rising healthcare costs remain a pressing concern for businesses and individuals alike. As the sector becomes more competitive, supply costs will naturally come down for natural and organic foods as well.

Whole Foods began simply because Mackey, as an employee at a small Austin natural foods store, believed he could run his own store and wanted to give it a try. Later, with a couple of stores that began to achieve profitability, his ambitions grew, and he aimed to continue expanding. In 2011, Whole Foods announced they would aim to hit 1,000 locations in the United States alone.

In 2013, the two Co-CEOs, John Mackey and Walter Robb, told Jim Cramer of CNBC their goal was to actually hit 1,200 U.S. stores. Not long after that interview, they sailed into an unrelenting hurricane a storm, which included numerous earnings and comparable same-store sales disappointments, as well as a food-weighing scandal. Earlier this year, in February, they announced they would be closing certain stores, and scaling back their goals for square footage.

Suddenly, with Amazon behind it, the concept of 1,200 Whole Foods stores seems more plausible than ever before, and Mackey is surely pleased, however careful to express it. With Amazon as its wealthy parent, it can reach a far wider audience, and make healthy, natural and organic products more accessible for everyone John Mackeys legacy. In his book, Conscious Capitalism, Mackey mentions that it wasnt until they went public that they, as a company, really felt they had any money.

Following their IPO in 1992, they expanded rapidly, largely through acquisitions of other natural food stores, and initiated a variety of other strategies that brought them to where they are today. Now, 25 years later, theyre at another crossroads, where greater capitalization can really set them up for their next stage of growth. Success has brought new entrants galore into natural and organic foods - mainly traditional grocery chains.

Whole Foods is faced with ever-steeper price competition. They have a cannibalization problem, in which new stores eat into the sales of existing stores, resulting in disappointing performance releases to the investment community. Whole Foods highly-paid team has been the root of the culture, which draws in its loyal shoppers, but their employment costs have been too high, leading them to reluctantly engage in cuts to their workforce, which have significantly damaged morale within the company. Theyve tried several solutions to their growth problems with less than favorable results. Merging online with brick and mortar is considered the next big wave for grocery. Where were they to turn next? Whole Foods needed this deal, and its a big opportunity.

Source: Whole Foods Investor Relations

Amazon, on the other hand, has been experimenting with grocery since 2008 or earlier. According to a Bloomberg report earlier this year, Amazons goal is to become a Top 5 grocery retailer by 2025, which would require about $30 billion in sales for the category. Currently, it sells close to $9 billion in online food and beverage products, and Whole Foods sales for 2016 were $15.7 billion. Although Amazon has not been a master of this category, it is becoming the unrivaled master of retail.

Quarterly sales growth at Amazon for the last five quarters has averaged 26.6%, and operating cash flow grew by an average of 45.2% each quarter for the same period. The slow takeoff of online grocery and grocery delivery has a lot to do with trust. People like picking out their grocery items, particularly fresh produce items. Such is the reason why grocers and Amazon alike have come to understand they need to have some combination of online and brick and mortar.

Whole Foods is a master of grocery, particularly in natural and organic foods, the fastest growing category in the industry. They handle fresh food better than any other company alive today. Although, in 2016, its food and beverage market-share was still only 1.7% compared to Wal-Marts 17.3%, Krogers (NYSE:KR) 8.9%, and Costcos (NASDAQ:COST) 5.1%, its one of the fastest growing major players in the grocery industry, and it has significant experience in food delivery as well.

With Instacart, its delivery partner, they collectively deliver more groceries to U.S. households than any other company, according to their 2016 annual report (albeit, this still makes up a small share of their total business). With its purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, Amazon instantly gains over 450 totally outfitted grocery stores as an alternative to spending billions developing pick-up locations on their own. Jeff Bezos and his team also gain invaluable information for moving into this space effectively this is one of the most critical factors. Lastly, they get a team of experienced grocers, a culture arguably the best in the industry.

Wal-Mart has 4692 U.S. stores in total, and 600 offer online grocery according to their latest annual report. They begin their report with, Innovating to serve customers better is how Wal-Mart became the company it is today. No, Low Prices, as a brand, is how Wal-Mart became the company it is today. A company, which indeed has very competitively priced items, but often resorts to lesser quality items to preserve its price identity.

With that also comes an outrageously poor shopping experience. As our economy grows, people demand better quality products and services. With this, Whole Foods and Amazon are the future, and Wal-Mart and other low-quality grocers and retailers are the past. Sure, Marc Lore, founder of Jet.com and new head of Wal-Mart ecommerce, has done okay at improving the Wal-Mart online experience. But thats the equivalent of developing a higher quality burger at McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) anything is better than rock bottom.

Would anyone in their right mind claim the Jet and Wal-Mart experience exceeds that of Amazon.com or Whole Foods? As Greg Penner, Chairman of Wal-Mart, and a Walton family member told us at the Wal-Mart Shareholders' meeting this year, even his own mother was using the other site up until recently.

The new Walmart.com, according to the Chairmans mother, has really improved so much! Its no secret, with online, Wal-Mart is chasing Amazons coattail. And overnight, it just got a whole lot more competitive. Not because of the size of Whole Foods, but rather, because of the number of stores/pickup locations and shopping data Amazon will now have to work with.

Im not predicting the end of Wal-Mart at all. Wal-Marts financial stats look much less pie in the sky than Amazons

WMT

AMZN

Market Cap

229.75B

461.55B

Sales

485.87B

135.99B

P/E

16.47

84.63

P/EBITDA

6.97

37.77

PEG Ratio (5yr expected)

2.94

5.22

P/sales

0.47

3.24

P/book

3.11

21.3

ROA

7.13%

3.62%

ROE

18.49%

14.18%

Source: Yahoo Finance

However, if Amazon maintains, or possibly increases its growth rate, those numbers could change quickly. With this deal, its very likely Amazon will steal some of Wal-Marts market share, across a variety of categories. People have been known to doubt Amazon in the past and been left in the dust. Many times its growth was believed to have reached its peak, and many wondered if it would ever turn a profit on its snowballing sales. We have been taught up to this point to be careful when underestimating Jeff Bezos.

Online grocery is expected to make up 20% of U.S. food and beverage sales by 2025. If merging online with brick and mortar is its next big opportunity, they may have found their solution. With Whole Foods, they have the leader in natural and organic foods, the fastest growing area of the broader grocery sector. With Amazons core business, they are the fastest growing big player in retail. They began as an online retailer, and Wal-Marts trying to become one. While Amazons sales have been growing like the universe, Wal-Marts are basically flat. Zero.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Amazon expects to close the deal with Whole Foods in the coming months, after which they will begin their integration. The big challenge will be in maintaining the culture that makes Whole Foods what it is, while simultaneously trying to inject big ideas and big changes into the grocers business model. Whole Foods is known for being compassionate and having low employee turnover, whereas Amazon has a cutthroat reputation and has one of the worst turnover rates of all Fortune 500 companies.

Amazon will find opportunity in taking many of Whole Foods grocery items, which include most packaged goods, as well as their whole body items like soaps and supplements online. Theyll also likely bring down prices to make natural and organic foods more popular among a larger audience. Jeff Bezos has a history of undercutting competitors, often running losses on certain items to win the market share. If he plays this game with Whole Foods, hes betting the natural and organic foods industry continues to scale, driving supply costs down accordingly.

With a larger Whole Foods footprint, Bezos will have more opportunities to gain Prime users his ultimate goal, creating a slew of other opportunities. According to Wal-Marts annual report, they plan to have online grocery available in an additional 500 stores by 2018. The question is, who will do a better job of merging online shopping with brick and mortar? Clearly, Amazon. Amazon has a long way to catch up with Wal-Marts total sales, but Walmart.com and Jet.com have a long way to catch up with Amazons online business.

If Jeff Bezos can continue to hover on Day 1, as he likes to call it, and maintain these spectacular growth rates by effectively integrating his business with Whole Foods, its believable the market will take Amazon stock to $1 trillion. Whether or not it ever justifies that figure with profitability is another story.

Disclosure: I am/we are long WFM.

Business relationship disclosure: I am part of a company that does business with WFM.

Additional disclosure: I/we might initiate a Long position in AMZN over the next 72 hours.

See original here:

Make No Mistake: Wal-Mart Executives Are Losing Sleep - Seeking Alpha

San Francisco Examiner

Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba can't relax San Francisco Examiner In Jamaica I was also reading this book on music theory, he says. But after realizing that it wasn't the right thing to do because it didn't count as vacation, he switched to the vampire novel The Passage, which was much more fun. The Connecticut ...

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Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba can't relax - San Francisco Examiner

The Dirty Grass Players performing at the 2016 Brokedown Floatdown music festival. (Submitted photo)

BERKELEY SPRINGS Sleepy Creek will host its third Brokedown Floatdown Music Festival at on the Potomac River in Berkeley Springs from July 21-23.

The family friendly event will feature free camping, live music, river floating, movie night, a bonfire and more.

Gates open at 4 p.m. on Friday for those looking to arrive early, and on Saturday at 8 a.m. for those holding the Saturday-Sunday passes.

The events on Friday include a movie night under the stars and a bonfire jam session, where those who attend will have the chance to enjoy quality time with family in a relaxing environment.

An important and fun aspect of the festival is the ability to bring an impressive and unique flotation device as the Saturday events kick off with a float on the Potomac and a competition for the best float.

There will also be live music by the river during the afternoon and on the stage on Saturday night. The lineup includes Brokedown Hustlers, Primate Fiasco, Still Hand String Band, The Dirty Grass Players, Black Muddy River Band and Whiskey Stache.

Incorporating the amenities at the campground/venue such as the river was the original inspiration behind the event, but further inspiration came from the desire to create a more slow-paced, laid-back alternative to your standard music festival, something more similar to a weekend camping out with friends, said Danny Moore, director of operations at Sleepy Creek.

Moore said the main goal of the event is to make the festival as memorable as possible for patrons and families.

We believe one aspect that sets us apart from other festivals is that our events really focus on fun for all ages, Moore said. We have found if we focus on keeping the kids happy, we can never lose.

Sleepy Creek focuses on keeping the whole family happy, providing playground areas, parades and workshops for the children.

Brokedown Floatdown is all about inclusivity, according to Moore.

A unique aspect of the festival that demonstrates this theme is the campfire jam session.

As an attendee of festivals myself, playing acoustic instruments around a campfire was always some of the most fun I had, Moore said. We made it a point at Sleepy Creek to encourage this as well.

Attendees are encouraged to bring instruments and play along at the jam session, and all skill levels are welcome.

Local arts and crafts and food vendors will also make an appearance at the festival.

Families that attend will have the chance to camp out through the weekend. RVs are permitted and for a $10 fee. Pets are also allowed for $10.

Tickets for Friday to Sunday are $40 in advance and $50 at the gate. Tickets for Saturday to Sunday are $30 in advance and $40 at the gate. Children 15 and under are free.

According to Moore, Sleepy Creek is determined to make the festival experience as warm and welcoming as possible.

One unique thing I have found with Sleepy Creek, is the large amount of people that consider it home during the festival season, Moore said. It has such a warm and welcoming vibe that has kept people coming back from day one. We certainly intend to keep it that way.

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Weekend Float: River music festival is July 21-23 - Martinsburg Journal

Working with Iggy Pop changed the life of Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, who produced the former Stooge's lushly arranged 2016 LP Post Pop Depression. "Iggy is the single greatest example of a frontman that you could have for rock & roll," Homme recently told Rolling Stone. "Working with him just recharged my faith in rock & roll and in trying to blaze your own path at whatever cost that is."

It was such a monumental experience for Homme that he decided to document it with the just-released film, American Valhalla, which he co-directed with Andreas Neumann. It features Anthony Bourdain interviewing Pop and Homme, as well as their band and crew members, as they explain how the Stooges frontman sought out Homme as a collaborator and how two xylophone-and-guitar demos that the latter made became the album's shadowy "American Valhalla" and dramatic "I Want to Break Into Your Heart." In turn, Pop sent Homme detailed notes about his time in the late Seventies with David Bowie in Berlin, and the pair bonded. The doc also follows them on the short run of shows they did supporting the album, playing Post Pop Depression songs, as well as a nice chunk of tunes from Pop's first two solo LPs, 1977's The Idiot and Lust for Life.

It's an interesting film in that, as Pop tells it, Post Pop Depression may well be his final album. But at the time, he didn't think much of making a movie about it. "Josh wanted to do it; I just cooperated," Pop, now 70, tells Rolling Stone with a laugh during a lengthy, wide-ranging interview. "We were doing it and then at some point we were doing it about doing it, which was all right with me. It's a compliment on his part."

Now that he has hindsight and has moved on to other projects, including doing the interviews for American Valhalla, Pop can see the album's larger significance.

When you watch this film and look back on Post Pop Depression, how do you feel it stands out in your discography? I'm singing more and the vocal range is wider. I'm aware I'm not Caruso or ... who's the guy all the moms love? Michael Bubl. I'm not even him. But there's a big range of style on it, and I never expected going into this for it to be a rock record. It has an awfully nice groove. I put a lot into it. We lived it. I haven't really lived a record like that since [1993's] American Caesar, but mostly all my albums in the Sixties and Seventies were more of a communal experience where you're living the whole thing.

Why did you never expect it to be a rock record? Because, look, I've done these things before. I've worked with a lot of different people. Generally, when I collaborate with somebody, I don't expect them to bring what they're already good at, what they already do really well as some sort of free pass for me to, "Oh, I'll sing on it this time." No. So Queens is a hard-rocking group, but, on his last record, I heard this ballad master coming out on stuff like "...Like Clockwork." That was the stuff that really floored me. I was like, "Jeez, he can do that?" So I thought he was gonna keep this rock stuff for himself; he earned that. You earn your rock spurs the hard way. It's a really dirty business [laughs].

So I knew we'd do something just different. I didn't know what it would be. Then once I heard the first two little bits he gave me, I thought, "Oh, it's gonna be kind of like Chelsea Girls or something. It's gonna be like [sings the Velvet Underground] 'Sunday morning ...'" You know? But there was a little more to it than that. He got into this midtempo swagger on this stuff. It all ended up with a really nice groove. I was pleased.

The film makes it seem like you had to pursue Josh to get him to work with you. What is it you look for in a collaborator? Well, it can be different given the occasion and what it is I want to do. I wanted to do something fresh for me, but I wanted it to be something that could and would communicate to the applicable, current music audience. Josh is a valid, current musician that people listen to. So that was important to me. Then, basically, the taste and articulation that I heard from his Desert Sessions [recordings] he's kinda open for anything. If you've ever heard "Shepherd's Pie" by him, it's basically a ragtime comedy track. In advance, I just thought, "Well, this guy's intelligent." I knew he'd listened to what I'd done with some degree of interest, so I thought we'd just give it a whirl. That was it.

I also watched their Wiltern concert from the last record and although I didn't want to go out and tour I wasn't thinking about a tour for [Post Pop Depression] I noticed how well-presented it was live. And I read the comment section and I was shocked by how much the people who went appreciated the quality and the detail. It was refreshing to see there were a lot of people who really respect and appreciate what this guy's doing. I thought it was good myself. I thought it had feeling. That's what was really, really important: the feeling.

Why didn't you want to tour? Because I've been touring a lot, and it's hard, bloody work. I had thought, "Oh, I'll just do this as what it is, then I'll go out and just do it [normal]." What I do is a measured amount of touring anyway, in a way that's sustainable for me at my vintage and that's great for me. I think I do a good job of it. I'm proud of it. But do I want to go out with this ... Josh is a force. He's a handful. So it's like, "Do I want to go out with this maniac and actually put boots on the ground and play theaters and have a production and everything?" And I'm so glad I did. It was a once-in-a-lifetime result for me, to bring the repertoire forward and to get washed-up and dressed nicely and play beautiful places where there's actually a toilet seat on the toilet in the dressing rooms. We played a lot of opera houses on this tour.

We had a kind of a thing between us. I think it came from something he heard in a couple of my vocals. There was a certain way I was singing that he took to be like opera. He would put his hand aloft like a Siegfried in the ring, and he would say, "We've gotta keep it up there. It's opera." I'm actually talking to somebody ... I'm threatening to do some opera in a couple of years [laughs]. Why not? I really like [Wagner's] Tristan and Isolde; that's a big favorite for me.

It seems like you've been doing a little bit of everything lately jazz, electronic music. You worked with Oneohtrix Point Never recently. Part of it is just because people called and asked to work with me. I'm approachable. The Oneohtrix Point Never song I did was probably kickstarted by the theme song I did with Danger Mouse for the Matthew McConaughey vehicle, Gold, which was a last-minute job. They were desperate for a vocal, and I had two days off on the tour break and I said, "Allll right." But Danger Mouse had heard a song I did called "I Wanna Go to the Beach," which is on Prliminaires, which is one of these little, quiet, French-ette albums I was making when I could scrape time away from the original Stooges. So he knew what I could do. He said, "I've got a song, I want you to sing it the way you sang such-and-such." Then when that came out, it got a bit of attention and I started getting calls. I've done three since then, and the Oneohtrix has come out.

I think it's like, if you've got a Disney movie, you can call Elton John, but if you're indie, I'm available [laughs]. And the Oneohtrix was just such a wonderful piece of music.

And it was the same with Jamie [Saft], Steve [Swallow] and Bobby [Previte]. They sent me three tracks through an old friend named Bill Laswell, who's a jazzbo, a really interesting producer and just a general music maverick. I like Bill, so I keep in touch with him, and I've done things over the years, like I did a Buckethead thing for him and I did a Burroughs thing, just because I like him. He sent me word that these guys were looking for me. That's all he said was, "Good musicians and such, not the usual thing. What do you think?" I said, "Well, send it to me, I'll listen to it." I thought, "Oh, wow. I'd really love to try to sing to all three of these." It was late in the year. I wasn't doing anything else. They didn't rush me. So that's why I did it. It was just a chance to try something a little softer in attack and more exacting in approach ... although the vocals aren't very exact, I'm afraid. But I tried. I gave it a shot. There's some feeling in there anyway. I've got something to say.

Do you feel like you're done with rock records? Well, about the time I got halfway through this record, I just said to Josh, "This is gonna be my last LP." I just felt like I'd done a lot of LPs. I'd done 'em indie. I'd done 'em self-released. I'd done 'em where they were bootlegged first and later legitimized. I did 'em for me. I did 'em for the man [laughs]. After a while, OK, I've done 'em lots of 'em. Also, I noticed when the Internet started becoming more important and different outlets for people to hear the music became available, some of the records I'd made weren't quite as reviled and pooh-poohed as they had been when they came out. Some of them that were just considered just kinda OK, people started going, "Well, wait, actually, this is something." That continues. So part of it is, I have this instinct to just get the fuck out of the way of my own stuff, just let it sit in for a while. Do I really need to sit around scratching my head like, "I need to make a statement"? No.

But if I'm going through something personally at the time, and I get one piece of music from Oneohtrix Point Never, and it makes me feel a certain way, and nobody hassles me, and lets me do what I want, and I don't have some horrible weasel who imagines that his investment allows him to pee all over me bothering me, then I can get into a mood and sing something that means something. So I'm just feeling like that sort of thing is a better outlet for me, or maybe the theater or the opera. Even doing the radio show I do, just presenting other people's music. How about that? So for that reason ... what else can I do? A Ramones cover album? I don't know.

I'd listen to that. [Laughs] Hey, OK. Maybe that's an idea.

In the film, you tell Anthony Bourdain that it bothers you when somebody would tell you that you put out stuff that wasn't so good but that you're good. You said you wanted to make something higher quality with this record. Can you explain that a little more? In general, I would say that the American West Coast Rock with a capital R know-it-all ethic tends to be short on ideas, long on execution. My favorite music often tends to be the opposite. It tends to be really long on the ideas and short on the execution. I think it was Bob Dylan who was saying the other day, "Well, Goddamn it, when I made ... " and he named his greatest album, like Blonde on Blonde or whatever it is "I was trying to squeeze 25 songs onto one side, so the song quality is thin, blah blah blah." There is something to that sort of thing. There are people out there who appreciate you more if they feel that you've tried hard to make something fully realized, pristine and ... how do I say this? There are hard-working people in this world who want you to work hard on what you give them, too.

I didn't want people to think I'm just some bum who sits around and bleeds and collects a paycheck all the time [laughs]. So I think some of that desire has been expressed in the approach I've done to my live work for the last 15 to 20 years. I've been doing consistent, good work live. And I've seen people who hold large events started looking for me instead of looking away in horror. So I wanted to bring some of that into the recorded side of things. Try to put my two cents' worth into something that was very, very carefully done, also something in which I was challenged. For the challenge, I needed an outside guy. That's also where Josh came in. You need somebody stubborn and opinionated to tell you, "No, not that. This." And that's a good thing.

Speaking of your concerts, there's a scene in the film where Josh says you complained about the barricade being too far away from the stage in Berlin and that you couldn't jump into the audience. Why do you feel you have to do that?[Laughs] I did finally slowly give it up. I haven't done a stage dive since I played three nights with Metallica at a racetrack in Mexico City [this year]. I did what was a pretty tame one, since there were so many people packed in they had to catch me. I did one each night.

That was in March. I turned 70 in April, and I haven't done a dive since. I think it's OK. I go work the crowd in front and stuff like that; I mix it up. But the reason that came up in the film was, I didn't want to be like, "OK, everybody. Sorry. You don't get to see the real Iggy Pop. You just get to see the guy who put on the suit." It was a very long dive in Berlin. On the actual concert film, you can see just the two little desert boots sticking out of the crowd. I went straight down.

It's good they caught you. I'm sure that hasn't always been the case. Well, no. Not always. But it's usually worked out.

On the tour, in addition to the Post Pop songs, you did a lot of The Idiot and Lust for Life. Did Josh ask for those? I kept sending him balanced lists of songs from different parts of my career. Then Dean [Fertita, guitar] was sending him stuff, too. But in the end, Josh is a big train and he's gonna do what he wants to do. So finally, I just wrote him two days before I was supposed to go out for the rehearsal and I said, "Look, I give up. I know all my songs. Just learn the ones you want to, and I'll sing 'em." That was how that went. He felt closest to that material, which was kinda great, because some of that stuff had never been done live and a lot of it had been done only seldom or not really very well live. So it was really good to give it an airing. As it turned out, it fit really, really well with the stuff from the new record, which he was probably aware of since it was coming through his fingers. He's a very savvy musician.

In the film, Josh shows a package you sent him to encourage him to work on music. It has pages of these incredible details about your Berlin years with Bowie. I know you did an autobiography in '82, but have you thought about updating it for something new? I'll never do that. I said enough in the one I did. I'm not enough of a shit to do one for the money. I'm not clever enough to edit myself and I'm not shitty enough to tell everything. Because most of my life belongs to other people anyway, and who am I to talk? I got a lot out of doing it once, really, really early. It's sort of way there in the distant background, kind of a strange-ass reference work. And that's fine. I'd rather just leave it that way. I could sing about that stuff. Sometimes I think about turning it into fiction. But many novelists are alcoholics, so that's a problem. Writing is a lot of pressure in general.

Did the influence of those Berlin albums come across in Post Pop Depression? I think more just the feeling of ... again, something vaguely operatic that happened during The Idiot, between the musical themes that I was getting handed. What came out of my mouth when I just opened my mouth and my ignorance and my joyful divorce from the booted foot of the American L.A. music scene I was just in another world. I had nothing to lose. I thought I was an artist. I always had. I never thought I was a donkey to shit bread. Some of these themes came out, and I just kinda found myself opening my mouth and making these meandering baritone vocal patterns that had this kind of a feel to it. I think that made an impression on him with that particular record, The Idiot, more than the other one maybe. What he thought about doing with it, I don't know.

Listen, a lot of the themes musically on [Post Pop Depression] are bits and pieces that Josh had had for years and years, but I suspect he didn't have an outlet for them. The choral melody and chord pattern of "Gardenia" was something he'd had. The same with "Chocolate Drops." Those were actually two things that were part of one piece and I asked him to separate them and make two different songs. And he kept telling me, "You're singing it backwards." Apparently, that really bugged him and there was a big discussion that I didn't hear between him and Dean, and Dean was saying, "It's OK that he's singing it backwards. It's the way he hears it." So he was like, "OK, sing it backwards."

In the film, you tell Josh that you feel very overwhelmed sometimes. How do you deal with that? I think, "What are the elements conspiring to bother me here?" If it gets really bad, I'll sit down and write an essay. I'll say, "Here's what I feel I'm involved in and what's bothering me about it or why it looks so insoluble." And I'll just pack that away and refer to it a couple weeks later and go, "Hey, it wasn't really that bad. I got through it." So that's part of it. Qigong helps a lot. I do a set of exercises I learned from a tai chi master. I don't do them as much when I'm working hard, which is unfortunately a lot lately. But I'm lucky to have work. So I do that and that generally makes me feel more fit and calm. So that's pretty much it. I just try to grapple with the details and not expect. The worst is when you expect an instant solution. You're not gonna get one.

From the shots in the film of your home in Miami, it looks like you should be able to chill out easily. Well, the palm trees... I do like 'em. They confer a certain serenity that I don't necessarily possess personally. That's why I like being near water and the palm trees. Where I am right now is that backyard that's in the movie somewhere. It's that little house with the river and the trees and everything. It's actually a slowly gentrifying part of a very basic neighborhood on the edge of Little Haiti. But otherwise, there are other places I reside and it's always near the water with me.

Speaking of relaxing, what music have you been liking lately? There are three girls named Fmina from the Andes in Patagonia that are just terrific. They're just starting their U.S. tour, they actually landed in Miami today and I might call and see if they want to have coffee after I hang up with you. I played them on my radio show the other day and I don't think they're used to being all over the radio in the English-speaking world. But they're really, really good.

There's also a punk band called O.D.I.O., which is an acronym for the word "hate" but they're not nasty from Bogot that I like. I love Sleaford Mods. I think they're just about the most credible new group going that don't rely on the old conventions to make the music feel good. I like Thundercat, but so do lots of people.

How do you discover music these days, like the South American artists? I think I found them because I was looking up Mitski songs I like her on YouTube, then the computer started to figure me out. Because I look for South American stuff and Cuban stuff and Dominican stuff quite a bit, then I was looking at female stuff, then suddenly up popped Fmina. So I listened to it. That was how I found that.

But I also tend to read the reviews sections in daily papers. Not as much music press because each separate music-press entity generally has a slant to it and the coverage is tied into their advertising, as you know. So it's not as efficient for me as if I look in the New York Times gig guide, like who's in town in the next week. Then it'll tell me Chastity Belt. Oh, they have a new album, they're playing Williamsburg? Well, I'll listen to it. Or The Guardian has a very, very good review section for stuff that a lot of people will call obscure. They'll give 200-plus words to some people who've got something new out and you might not hear about otherwise.

Then I have friends who send me stuff. I have five or six sources. There's somebody who runs a record store here, this guy's in a band here called the Jacuzzi Boys. Bill Laswell. A couple of people in France send me stuff from time to time because I'm curious what's going on there. So like that.

Speaking of the Jacuzzi Boys, I dug that "Asshole Blues" song you did for them. Well, thanks. It was just something I was doing at home years ago on my iPad, which is why you can hear me going, "How do I turn this thing off?" And it's really sloppy. I could barely play the riff because I've got gnarledness in my fingers from age and use. But I felt it. Then it was just sitting there, I wasn't gonna do anything with it, but they said, "Hey, if you've got something ... " I said, "Well, yeah." I like playing porch blues. It's nice to play a little acoustic guitar tuned open. It's warm, you can hold it, and in open tuning, you don't have to think too much about it.

There's a scene in the movie where you tell Anthony Bourdain about how a record exec asked you to sing Leonard Cohen's "Ain't No Cure for Love" on one of your records, and you told him no because it wasn't right for you. What became of that? It was an exec at Virgin America. We had a showdown and I finally said, "Just gimme some money and I'll record 'Louie Louie' instead and leave me alone." And they did all right with "Louie Louie." They got some mileage out of that.

Did you have to deal with a lot of that? Well there's a lot of it, and sometimes, you just have to do one. There was a very funny one when I first came to Virgin. There was a song for the film called Black Rain. It was called "Living on the Edge of the Night," and it had been written by the sound engineer, and the director, Ridley Scott, really liked it and they wanted me to do it. Virgin said, "Well, Iggy Pop could record this for you." Then I said, "Well, I don't really feel that song." I didn't think it was right for me.

He gave me a call and said, "Come on, give it a go." I said, "Well, all right, I'll try it." We went into the studio and he attended the session and I did my best, but he already had Gregg Allman on the soundtrack and he kept going to the talk-back button saying, "You must sound more working-class." And I thought to myself, "He's just gonna end up using Gregg Allman. Gregg is working class. That's not me." So I did the song, and it didn't ruin my life. He was looking for something to open the film. He ended up using Gregg because Gregg is great. Gregg is Gregg, man. So that was funny.

At one point, between Fun House and Raw Power, there was some sort of proposal to make me into a teen idol or a boy band, going around. That would have been the weirdest boy band in world history.

I don't even know what teen-idol Iggy Pop would sound like. I don't know. You know, the original Stooges record, I think, if video had existed as a commercial TV outlet at that time, the Stooges probably would have gotten a lot of exposure because we had a nice visual and it wasn't too nuts until later. When we first started, we actually looked pretty spiffy and I could front. The songs were simple, but carefully done. I think there would have been a larger audience for it than what it got. But that's worked out anyway, because of the Internet. So it's OK.

Lastly, in the song "American Valhalla," you sing, "I've nothing but my name." Do you really feel that way? Well, yeah. Uh-huh. Sure. Don't ask me what it means, but I do. That's why it came out. I don't know why I feel that, but that's what I feel. It may have something to do with the game I'm in, or the position that that game confers upon you. I don't know. It's just a feeling. Not a bad feeling.

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Iggy Pop on Josh Homme's Genius, Singing Opera, Why He's Done Making Albums - RollingStone.com

Notorious inmates at Arbour Hill prison were given an uplifting experience when an American gospel choir put on a show for them.

Prisoners at the tough Dublin jail were treated to the sing-song on Saturday by the American HOPE choir who were visiting from Florida.

Ten men and women sang in the performance which was held in the jail church.

Inmates were free to come and go while it was taking place. Evil killer Brian Hennessy, who murdered Sharon Whelan and her two daughters in Kilkenny in December 2008, is believed to have been one of the inmates who enjoyed the performance.

Other notorious prisoners at the jail include wife killer Joe OReilly and paedophile Patrick OBrien.

Read more: Jailbirds tucking into top grub including Thai chicken curries, beef stews and chicken casseroles

A source told the Irish Mirror the music is seen as extremely therapeutic for the prisoners.

The source said: Music has always been seen a great way to relax inmates.

Its extremely relaxing and is good therapy for prisoners.

Inmates loved the uplifting performance and the choir were warmly welcomed.

Performers regularly come into the jail throughout the year.

This particular choir have been visiting and performing for the inmates for a number of years and travel over from the States.

It doesnt cost the taxpayer anything as they pay for their travel and expenses themselves.

The inmates are not forced to sit and watch the performance and can come and go as they wish.

A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service last night confirmed that a performance by the choir took place.

Read more: Wife killer Joe O'Reilly has become the 'badminton king' behind bars

The spokesman said: I can confirm that the choir were in Arbour Hill on Saturday where they gave a recital in the church. They have come in on an annual basis for the last few years.

They volunteer their own time and there is no cost to the Prison Service for the performance. It is open to all prisoners to attend.

Its not the first time inmates have been treated to a performance by visiting singers or musicians.

Last March, murderers and rapists at the jail got to see a show put on by a 60 strong live orchestra.

Its understood a psychologist, who used to work at the jail but has since retired and joined the band, is helping to put on the concert.

In 2013, a Johnny Cash tribute band, Get Rhythm, played for inmates at the Loughan House open prison in Co Cavan.

The eight-piece played to 150 men for more than an hour and was the first in a series of prison shows for the band over five weeks which also included gigs at Wheatfield and Mountjoy prisons.

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Arbour Hill prison inmates treated to sing-song by American gospel choir - Irish Mirror

The Hindu

The think tank and the ashram The Hindu Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the centenary year celebrations of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. Between the official rhetoric of Gandhi and the disturbing silence of the civil society lies a huge void that one needs to talk ...

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The think tank and the ashram - The Hindu